Magical Children
by misscam
Summary: Emma finds out she has more than one thing in common with her brother Neal – and she might actually come to enjoy that. [Charming family, minor Snow/Charming.]


Magical Children  
by misscam

Disclaimer: Not my characters, just my words.

Author's Note: Set a couple of years into the future. Vague references to Emma's lovelife. You're free to imagine whoever you want in the role. Based on a prompt from one of my readers.

II

It is strange to have a brother younger than your own son, Emma has to admit. Then again, it is also strange to have parents your own age that are Snow White and Prince Charming to boot, a son shared with the former Evil Queen, an extended family that involves dwarfs, fairies, a werewolf, Beauty and the Beast and that's not even getting in her love life which is...

Well, wonderful. But also strange.

So perhaps, all things considered, a very, very younger brother might be the most normal part of it.

Neal certainly acts like a normal two-year-old as far as Emma is aware. He seems to have limitless energy right up to the point where he has no energy at all, he can walk, climb minor obstacles and even run for a while. He likes to kick his toy dragon and throw his toy sheep. His favorite people in the whole world are his parents – and his second favorite is her.

Yeah. Who would have thought it – Emma Swan, the beloved big sister? It seems just as unlikely as 'Emma Swan, beloved daughter' or 'Emma Swan, beloved mother', but she has all of those too.

(There might even be a 'Emma Swan, beloved' in there, but she tries not to think too much about that since she might get dangerously used to the idea.)

Neal can even say her name. 'Emma,' he'll say, and she'll melt. 'Want Emma.'

So it's perhaps no wonder Emma has become the babysitter of choice. Neal's choice, that is. Her parents didn't want to force her into looking after her brother, so they did try others. But it soon became clear she had a special touch with her baby brother and could calm him as only her parents were normally able to, and it also became clear to Emma that she actually loved it, so...

Here she is. Babysitting her brother yet again, while her parents get some deserved time alone as well as rest.

They have done well, she has to say. They're clearly exhausted half the time, but they have done really well. Neal is a happy, prospering, bright boy, and the small pangs of jealousy she feels are easily outweighed by the love she feels for them all. For her parents, who finally get to raise a child and for her brother, who charmed her the moment she looked at him.

"Emma," Neal says, and she focuses her attention on him rather than on how they got her. He's finished kicking the toy dragon around and is now looking slightly bored.

"Right here, kiddo," she says. Then she notices that the toy dragon appears to have suffered an injury during the kicking.

"Daddy," Neal says, sounding sad. He did get the toy dragon from David, Emma knows, and hasn't spent a day without it since. Gently, she lifts the dragon up and notices the tear across the throat where the stuffing is threatening to spill out.

"I guess taking dragon heads off is a family tradition," she murmurs, then smiles up at Neal. "We can fix this, kiddo. Let me just find Mary Margaret's sewing kit and we can save your dragon."

Neal looks hopefully, then stretches his arms up towards her. "Up."

"It's 'up, please'," she reminds him, but she has to smile at the royal tone he manages.

"Pwease," Neal repeats, and she bends down and picks him up. He puts his arms around her neck and hugs her while she walks downstairs.

Sure enough, Mary Margaret's sewing kit is in the desk where Emma remembers it from the days of being roommates. She takes it with her and places Neal and the toy dragon on the kitchen table, then sits down on a chair.

"We can fix dragon with this," she promises him. "But it will hurt a bit so you have to hold dragon's... claw or wing or something, okay? Help him be brave."

Neal nods serenly, putting his small fingers around the dragon's front leg. He watches in complete silence as Emma sews the gash in the dragon's neck as best she can. Her mom would probably do a much better job of it, but it doesn't look too bad.

"There," she says gently. "Dragon is all better and you were both really brave."

"Emma," Neal says happily, hugging her.

She smiles at him, lifting him up again as he looks at the dragon fondly.

"Show mommy and daddy," he says, holding the dragon up.

"Mommy and daddy aren't here, kiddo," she reminds him. "They'll be home later and you can show them then."

Neal looks displeased about that. "Want mommy and daddy."

Emma opens to her mouth to remind him that he does have his mommy and daddy, has them more than he'll ever know because he won't have to grow up without them, when she feels the rush of magic.

Not her magic. She knows the rush and feeling of her magic and this isn't it.

This is...

Neal's?

She barely has any time to consider that before the kitchen vanishes in a rush, and their surroundings instead become what Emma recognizes as one of Granny's rooms and...

She covers Neal's eyes with a hand the moment she sees the bed, but can't help but stare herself.

It's her parents. Oh, it's definitely her parents, kissing quite enthusiastically, and quite nakedly with the covers only half covering them. She can see her mother arch into her father and...

Oh God, she thinks, closing her eyes. Sadly, she can't quite close her ears. There are _noises_ and her mother seems to be downright purring and her father is practically growling...

"Sorry! Children in the room!" she blurts out, and can thankfully hear the rustle of sheets being desperately pulled at.

"Emma!" her mother says breathlessly.

"Sorry!" Emma says again, carefully stepping backwards until she feels the doorknob at her back. "Magic accident. Nothing to worry about! You go back to... You wait five minutes and go back to what you're doing, I'll get Neal home."

With that, she turns around and rushes outside, closing the door firmly behind her. Her cheeks feel like they're on fire, which isn't helped by the way Neal is looking confused at her.

"Mommy and daddy," Neal says.

"Yeah, you found mommy and daddy," she manages to say, hurrying down the hallway. "But see, mommy and daddy... love each other... They are sometimes... helping each other rest. They like to... rest together. I've walked in it too and..."

Oh, hell. This is not a conversation she envisioned ever having with her brother. Trying to explain certain things to Henry was bad enough, and then she even ended up sending him to David in the end.

"Just don't poof to your parents, okay?" she says.

"Poof," Neal repeats, looking excited by the word.

"Yeah, poof," Emma says. "What you just did. Poof, teleport, whatever."

That's what it really hits her.

Neal teleported them both.

He has magic.

Just like her.

Oh, hell.

II

It is some time later when her parents return home. Neal has fallen asleep and Emma has found some alcohol, and gotten to the point where she finds the blush on her parents' cheeks as they enter almost funny.

Almost.

"I saw nothing, I heard nothing and we will never talk about that nothing I didn't see or hear," she says firmly, a line she has rehearsed for the last half an hour.

"Sure," Mary Margaret says. Emma can see her exchange a look with David, and they almost seem amused behind all the embarrassment.

"When did you learn to use your magic for teleporting?" David asks, sitting down on the couch next to her. Mary Margaret sits down next to him, their hands entwined as always.

"I didn't," Emma says. "It was Neal."

Her parents look at each other, then back at her.

"He has magic?" Mary Margaret asks, and Emma can only nod.

Her parents exchange another glance. They don't exactly look shocked, but not like they were expecting it either.

"We wondered if he would," her father finally says. He closes his eyes, looking torn between pride and worry. "I guess he really takes after his big sister."

Emma looks down. Even with a bit of alcohol, the pride her parents take in her is still weird to consider. They don't just love her. They're proud of her.

"I can teach him," she hears herself say. She's been thinking about that since she took him home. It's not just because her brother should learn how to control it and make sure he doesn't use it in ways he shouldn't.

She wants to teach him. She wants to share it with him, to have a brother who knows what it's like to have magic, just as she does.

She has a sibling now. And siblings share, don't they?

Her mother and father look at each other again, looking strangely teary and happy.

"We would love that, Emma," her father says, and her mother nods furiously. "I'm sure Neal will love it too. He loves you."

"We love you," her mother adds, and this time her father nods furiously.

Dammit.

"I think I need more alcohol for this," Emma mutters, and her parents laugh.

They end up sharing two bottles of wine, and Emma ends up wandering home humming, leaving her parents happily tipsy and flirty and her brother safely asleep, feeling strangely like everything might be really, really strange in her life – but also really, really good.

Emma Swan, beloved daughter, mother, sister and now magic teacher.

Whoever would have thought?

II

Neal really does love his big sister.

Which is why he does listen to her and doesn't poof to see his parents anymore.

She said nothing about poofing to see her.

II

It's late at night a few days later when Charming wakes from faint noises from the kitchen. Snow is sleeping, so he quietly steps out of bed, puts on a pair of pajamas pants, and grabs his sword and heads into the dark kitchen.

Someone is moving through it, clearly trying to be quiet and kind of failing. He squints at the shape, then blinks.

"Emma?"

It is Emma. Emma, and Neal, in fact.

"Dad," Emma says, sounding flustered. Neal is happily babbling in her arms and reaching for him, and he puts his sword away and lifts his son into his arms, something that never fails to make him smile.

"I told Neal not to teleport to you anymore," she says, fidgeting and not looking at him. "So he teleported to me tonight instead."

"Oh," he says. He glances down at his son, still floored by the idea that both his children seem to have powerful magic. "That means he really likes being with his big sister."

Instead of making Emma smile at that, as he was aiming for, his daughter looks increasingly uncomfortable. "Emma?"

"I love being with him," she rushes out. "It was just... An inconvenient time, that's all."

"Oh," he says again. She looks really flushed and warm. "Your mother and I will tell Neal not to teleport to you either."

"Thanks," she rushes out, practically running out the door. He stares after her perplexed, then shakes his head slightly. Softly, he walks into the bedroom where Snow is still sleeping. Neal makes excited noises the moment he sees her, even if he tries to hush, and she blinks sleepily up at them.

"Sorry," he murmurs, easing into bed. Neal immediately crawls over to Snow to curl up against her, and Charming moves in to embrace them both. "Your son apparently magicked his way over to Emma's tonight."

"Oh," Snow says sleepily, smiling slightly. "He really loves his big sister."

"She loves him too," Charming says, thinking of their daughter and how far she has come. "She could have just kept him for the night and called us in the morning."

"Henry is at Regina's, so I think she was planning on having company," Snow murmurs, kissing the top of Neal's head, who has fallen asleep, then kissing him softly.

Company, he thinks, enjoying the sensation of Snow's lips against his. What sort of...

Wait.

His daughter flushed and flustered, an inconvenient time, having company... He's getting a very good idea what his son seems to have teleported into, and he can't even get his sword out and go after that particular 'company' since Emma managed to lure a promise out of him that he wouldn't that time he walked in on kissing and groping.

He sighs into the kiss, and Snow pulls away slightly to look him.

"Does it bother you that much that Emma has company?" she asks softly, as always reading him too well. He really is powerless to both the women in his life, and he actually wouldn't have it any other way.

"No," he admits. "As long as she is happy."

"She is," Snow promises. "And if she gets hurt... Then you get the sword and I get the bow, and I have a feeling our son will get the magic. She has a brother now too, and he will protect her."

He laughs, looking down at their happily sleeping boy, looking so very innocent. But of course he is growing up as well, and seeing a lot more than he should with his tendency to teleport at inconvenient times.

"Snow?"

"Mmm?"

"I think we may have to teach our son about the birds and the bees a lot sooner than we thought."

She laughs softly, giving him a quick kiss. "You mean the bandits and the shepherds and how they have magical children?"

He smiles at that. "We really do have magical children, don't we? In both ways."

"We do," she agrees with an almost teary smile, and he follows her gaze to look down at their sleeping boy and thinks of their (hopefully) sleeping daughter.

Their magical children. In every meaning of the word, as it turns out.

FIN


End file.
